NEWTOWN -- It will take more than just an art show, or even a series of art shows, to heal Newtown.

But on Thursday, two months after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, at the Valentine's Day grand opening of the new HealingNewtown Arts Space, dozens of kids made bells and jewelry, created on-the-spot poetry and printed T-shirts as a couple of hundred people watched Yale's Whiffenpoofs sing African-American spirituals and other timeless classics.

Newtown singer-songwriter Jim Allyn sang with the Newtown Youth Choir to provide a backdrop for young dancers from the Newtown Center of Classical Ballet.

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Li Liu of Cirque du Jour, a Bejiing-born acrobat, got Newtown kids spinning plates on sticks after performing her own feats of wonder to the tune of "El Condor Pasa," the most famous Peruvian folk song.

Artists who flew -- and drove -- in from as far away as Florida and Chicago for an opening that featured art they donated swapped stories with Newtown artists whose work hung right alongside.

"It is comforting to know that you're not alone," said Newtowner Carolyn DePasquale, whose husband, Adam, is one of the pastors of the Walnut Hill Community Church in Bethel. She said she came to the grand opening "just to be a part of the community."

It made DePasquale feel good "to think that all these people were thinking of us when they made these things," she said as she walked around the new HealingNewtown Arts Space in the former Ace Hardware space.

Earlier, Jennifer Johnson, chairwoman of the Newtown Cultural Arts Commission, which created the Arts Space at 5 Queen St. with support from the Cultural Alliance of Western Connecticut and the state Department of Economic and Community Development's Connecticut Office of the Arts, had explained that the purpose was to lift people's spirits and help promote healing.

"At a difficult time like this, it is important for all of us to realize the important role art can play" in healing, Johnson said.

And for DePasquale, at least, it was working.

Ditto for Jen Meyer and Jill Baimel and their children, Ellie Meyer and Jack Baimel, both 8. They all stopped in at the HealingNewtown Arts Space opening -- where Jill Baimel was among the exhibitors -- after attending the March for Change in Hartford.

"It's great," said Jen Meyer, who said what brought her there was "just curiosity. We were touched by all the things that people donated" to the town in the wake of the tragedy, she said.

"It's nice that it's brought people together," Meyer said.

Anyone who wants to find out more or donate to support future activities can get information and a schedule of events at www.healingnewtown.org.